A woman has been arrested for animal cruelty after police discovered more than 20 dead cats inside her home – 14 of which were inside her fridge freezer.
Police were called to the Louisiana home of Sheri Hite, 71, last Thursday afternoon regarding a welfare concern.
As they stepped towards the entrance of the Morgan City property “officers noticed what was clearly a dead cat inside the residence along with a strong odor coming from inside”, police said in a statement.
Hite gave officers permission to enter her home, whereupon the officers were met with an “unbearable odor” they traced to the dead animals. One cat was found alive and handed over to animal rescue.
“Detectives secured a search warrant for the residence,” a Morgan City Police Department statement said. “On March 14, detectives with the Morgan City Police Department performed further search of the residence and discovered eight dead cats in rooms and 14 other dead cats in the freezer. Only one cat was found alive and turned over to animal rescue. The deceased cats were turned over for disposal.
“Hite stated she recently picked up cats from the Baton Rouge area to take care of and explained the frozen cats were kept to be later disposed of,” police added.
Hite has been charged with 23 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals. She is being held in the Morgan County Jail ahead of court proceedings.
